MADISON, Ill. (AP) — John Force raced to his record 136th career victory and moved into position for a 16th Funny Car season title Sunday in the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The 64-year-old Force won for the second time this year, beating defending series champion Jack Beckman with a 4.097-second run at 310.13 mph in a Ford Mustang. Beckman had a 4.127 at 309.84 in a Dodge Charger.

Force is six points behind leader Matt Hagan with three events left in the Countdown to the Championship.

Force beat Chad Head, Ron Capps and teammate Robert Hight to advance to the final round. Hagan, the top qualifier who entered the day with a 63-point lead over second-place Cruz Pedregon, lost to Beckman in the second round. Pedregon also lost in the first round.

Force, who will lose Ford and longtime sponsor Castrol after the 2014 season, admitted his focus has been elsewhere.

"We've got a race now, and I'm excited," Force said. "I had a good day. The most important thing for me was to see the crowd. They filled the bleachers. To win a championship you've got to live it every day, and I'm not chasing a championship. I've been busy chasing corporate America and taking care of our sponsors.

"My wife (Laurie) set me straight this morning, she said, 'What you need to do is win. We need John Force to get back to winning races.' Hey, I can do that. I ain't going to say I will win another race or a championship, but I'll be in the fight with these kids."

John Force and his wife Laurie have three daughters: Ashley, Courtney and Brittany, all of whom currently or previously raced in the NHRA. Force's oldest daughter (from a previous marriage), Adria Hight, is the CFO of John Force Racing.
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John Force celebrates with daughter Courtney Force at the New England Nationals on June 23, 2013. Courtney bested her dad in the Funny Car finals, the first time they had ever faced each other in that round.
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John Force has made more than 500 starts and earned more than 130 wins since his Funny Car career began. Force won 10 consecutive championships from 1993 through 2002.
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John Force poses with daughter Ashley Force Hood at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2007. Ashley, who stopped racing full time after the 2010 season, became the first woman to win an NHRA Funny Car event, in 2008.
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John Force was involved in a crash at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas. Among injuries Force sustained: a broken ankle, abrasion of his right knee, a dislocated left wrist, and badly mangled fingers and toes.
Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports

Although he briefly attended Cerritos College with visions of playing football, John Force admitted that he was too slow to play at the next level. He opted, instead, for what was in his mind the next best thing: drag racing.
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The effort ended a mini-slump for the defending world champion, who has not been in a final round since he won in Atlanta in early May. Since then he's posted eight first round losses and a DNQ at the Countdown playoff opener in Charlotte.

"It's no secret we've been struggling a lot more than what we had hoped to, and we had hoped we could have had a turnaround a little sooner, but we're not going to go out without a fight," Brown said. "The class is at an all-time high where everybody is running strong, but we just want to get back in the groove because it's not going to be over until it's over."

Enders-Stevens also won for the second year in a row at the track, holding off Mike Edwards in the final with a 6.540 at 211.23 in a Chevrolet Camaro. Edwards regained the points lead with the runner-up finish.

Enders-Stevens, who missed six of the last eight races in the regular season due to lack of sponsorship, moves into fourth place in the points order with the victory, 60 back of Edwards.

"This helped validate the faith that [new sponsor] Husky Liners had in me," Enders-Stevens said. "They are pleased with what we've done, and that's big because this deal only came together four days before the first [Countdown race] in Charlotte. Now we're up to fourth in points, and I think we're three rounds out of the lead, and we're going to do our best to keep winning. This was a make-or-break weekend because if we had exited first or second round, the championship would have been out of reach. Now, the way we see it, this is our championship, and they're going to have to take it from us."

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Smith rode to his second victory of the season and moved into the series lead, outrunning LE Tonglet with a 6.887 at 194.52 on a Buell.